County Clerk ready for same-sex marriages

Mendocino County Clerk Sue Ranochak said Wednesday morning that she is fully prepared to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples in Mendocino County as soon as she gets the go ahead from the state.

Ranochak said she has already received a letter from the state explaining how it will proceed to reinstate same-sex marriages.

According to Ranochak, the state will need to wait until the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals lifts the stay it had placed on same-sex marriages in California while the Supreme Court considered the case. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has let stand the California Supreme Court's ruling declaring Prop. 8 (the ballot measure making same-sex marriage illegal in the state) unconstitutional, that stay will be lifted.

Ranochak says so far, her morning has been quiet, no calls coming in from people wanting to know when they could get married.

Ranochak recalls June 2008 when gay marriage was declared legal statewide and the rush for gay couples to get married.

"There was more of a movement in 2008. We were having contact with people prior to that decision that June, we had phone calls from people wanting to know Can we sign up? Can we be first?'" Ranochak said.

Between that month and November of that year when the ballot measure banning gay marriage passed, Ranochak thinks there may have been about 50 marriage licenses given to gay couples in this county.

"We did quite a few that June and then it became pretty normal after that, both heterosexual and same sex pretty much proportional," she said.

She's not expecting the same kind of rush this time.

"After years of struggle, the U.S. Supreme Court today has made same-sex marriage a reality in California. In light of the decision, I have directed the California Department of Public Health to advise the state's counties that they must begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in California as soon as the Ninth Circuit confirms the stay is lifted," said Brown in a statement as soon as the Supreme Court decision was announced.

In preparation for this outcome, Governor Brown sought an opinion from California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris on whether the state, through the California Department of Public Health, can advise county clerks and registrar/recorders that they are bound by the federal district court's ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

The Attorney General concluded that the California Department of Public Health "can and should" instruct county officials that they "must resume issuing marriage licenses to and recording the marriages of same-sex" couples. The Department will issue another letter to county officials as soon as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals confirms the stay is lifted.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the Supreme Court decision itself will take 25 days to become official. The Mercury News also reports that some anti-gay marriage groups may still go back to court to try to convince a state judge that the California ruling allowing gay marriage should only apply in two counties, Los Angeles and Alameda.